UK and Australia enter post-Brexit agreement
The United Kingdom (UK) Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have agreed to strengthen cooperation post-Brexit.
They have agreed to two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to ensure there is continuity once the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, covering trade repositories and alternative investment funds (AIFs).
The agreements provided reassurance by ensuring arrangements will be in place for cross-border cooperation between the FCA and ASIC.
The MoU on trade repositories was required because the FCA would acquire functions and supervisory power in relation to trade repositories, which were currently supervised at the European level by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The MoU on AIFs had been updated to provide a framework for the FCA and ASIC to work together to ensure alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and AIFs that operated on a cross-border basis were properly supervised in the UK and Australia.
Her Majesty’s Treasury confirmed that existing equivalence decisions granted to Australia by the European Commission (EC) before exit day would generally be incorporated into UK law and apply post-Brexit.
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